News and info regarding Arizona's politics. U.S. Senate, Congress, Governor, statewide offices, initiatives, and - where we can - county and local.
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Interviewing an 84-year old white man and a 36-year old white woman, Duara delivered his sweeping thesis sentence: "Here, more than 120 miles from the border, Arizona voters outraged with President Obama’s executive orders that welcomed the foreign-born to America are delighted with Trump’s first week in office, when his actions seemed to have done the opposite."

As Arizonans' new hero might say (if the shoes had been on opposite feet) SAD!We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com or call 602-799-7025. Thanks.

Arizona Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) gave a quick, 1 1/2-minute speech in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this morning, explaining why he is "enthusiastically supporting" the nomination of Jeff Sessions for U.S. Attorney General.

He noted that he disagreed "often" with Sessions in the Senate, singling out immigration reform. However, even in those circumstances, Sessions was "thoughtful" and "courteous".

The Judiciary Committee's meeting casting their vote on Sessions has been marked by long speeches by opposing Democrats - which Chair Chuck Grassley is explicitly permitting because Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy permitted the same courtesy to Republicans when he was the committee's chair - and absences of Republicans (to vote on the floor for other nominations) causing long pauses for a lack of a quorum. There has even been at least one protester interruption.http://cs.pn/2kMztGeWe welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com or call 602-799-7025. Thanks.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Well-known ASU physicist Lawrence Krauss helped announce today that the Doomsday Clock now stands at 2 1/2 minutes to midnight. That is the closest it has been to doomsday since 1953, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists listed it at two minutes to midnight. For the past couple of years, the clock was at 3 minutes to midnight.

Krauss chairs the Board of the Bulletin that determines the clock's setting each year, and he told Arizona's Politics yesterday "in the 70 years since the clock was created, this year stands out for importance." He said that "international tensions are high and international cooperation is low, thanks in part to proposed policies by the new (Trump) administration." (his full statement is below)

After the early days of nuclear weapons testing in the 1950's, the clock was set back in the 1960's as the U.S. and Soviet Union worked to avoid direct conflict. It then reached three minutes to midnight in 1984, saying U.S./Soviet relations were iciest in decades. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the clock reached its farthest from midnight in 1991. Subsequent decisions to move the clock closer to midnight have also factored in "the nearly inexorable climate disruptions from global warming."

Krauss says "turning back from the brink will require public pressure to create sound policies in which nuclear weapons are not considered usable." As for climate change, he notes that the public and state governments need to lead "because it does not appear as if national governments are."

Krauss is the Director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University and Foundation Professor at ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration and Physics Department.

Krauss' full comments to Arizona's Politics:

"In the 70 years since the clock was created, this year stands out for importance in my mind. Certainly the clock announcement this year is more important than at any time since I have been on the Board of the Bulletin, and more important than at any time during which I have chairing the Board. On existential threats including climate change and nuclear weapons, international tensions are high and international cooperation is low, thanks in part to proposed policies by the new administration. Actions speak louder than words, but words matter. Turning back from the brink will require public pressure to create sound policies in which nuclear weapons are not considered usable, and faced with the third consecutive global warmest year on record, with more energy for devastating storms, and debilitating summer temperatures, the public, and state governments needs to lead here, because it does not appear as if national governments are."

We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com or call 602-799-7025. Thanks.

Significantly more formerly "inactive" voters who were registered as Republican or Other showed up to vote in the Presidential election than did inactive Democrats. The new voter registration numbers released by the Arizona Secretary of State today confirm what many (including Arizona's Politics) had reported anecdotally.

Although the main news from today's report (reproduced below) is that the number of registered voters continued to increase between the October cutoff to register for the General Election (more on that later in the article), the material decrease in the number of "inactive" voters also deserves attention.

Nearly 33,000 voters who had not voted in previous elections and/or had mailings returned as undeliverable came to polling places on November 8 and cast ballots (thus taking them off of the "inactive register". Nearly half of those had not registered for either of the major political parties, but the returning Republicans outnumbered their Democratic counterparts by 8.8 percentage points (9,961 and 7,075, respectively).*

Many reporters, poll workers and poll observers - in Arizona and throughout the nation - reported observing many people who were stating - sometimes excitedly - things like they were "voting for the first time in ages", and that Donald Trump had motivated them. This new report provides some validation for that reporting and similar exit polls.

When the "inactive" to "active" voters are factored in, it also puts a slightly different spin on the overall registered voter increase between October and January. The Secretary of State's Office reports that there are now 57,656 more active registered voters. Most of that increase is attributable to the re-activated voters. Of the balance, approximately 10,000 registered as Republicans, 8,000 as Democrats and only 6,000 as "Other".

Many of those probably registered within the 28 days prior to the election (including those Columbus Day registrants) - too late to vote on November 8 but ready for the local elections coming up in 2017 and the statewide and Congressional elections in 2018.

*It is worth noting that more Democrats than Republicans dropped off the inactive register earlier in 2016 when County Recorders sent out mailers and received responses or forwarding addresses; however, we do not know that those people ended up voting in November.We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com or call 602-799-7025. Thanks.

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Former Arizona Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has become a "sherpa" to guide former colleague Jeff Sessions through the confirmation process. Sessions is President Elect Donald Trump's choice for U.S. Attorney General.

(Cliff Owen, AP)

Kyl was a longtime member on the Senate Judiciary Committee (along with Sessions), although he was in the House of Representatives when that Senate committee voted to not confirm Sessions as a federal judge.

Politico reported Kyl's "sherpa" status this afternoon, shortly after the Associated Press published this picture of Kyl and Sessions visiting Senators.

Kyl retired from the Senate four years ago, and has been of counsel at the large law and lobbying firm of Covington Burling since.

(Kyl has not yet responded to Arizona's Politics inquiry, and this article will be updated when he does.)We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com or call 602-799-7025. Thanks.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

The Arizona Diamondbacks have taken their frustrations with Maricopa County - the owners of Chase Field - from the field to the court. A lawsuit (reproduced below) was filed today in Superior Court asking to let the team out of their long-term lease early, due to the County's alleged failure to keep up on promised repairs.

The announcement was made in the form of an article by Major League Baseball reporter Steve Gilbert. (reproduced below) (The tag at the end of the article notes that it was not subject to approval by the Diamondbacks.) It includes several quotes from Diamondbacks' Managing General Partner Ken Kendrick and Diamondbacks' attorney Leo Beus.

The Diamondbacks and the County have been fighting for years over repairs to the Ballpark, which has been in use since the Diamondbacks began play in 1998. The County has recently looked into selling the ballpark to private investors, but there is no evidence the negotiations ever became serious. Maricopa County taxpayers paid for the ballpark, and are still the sole owners; the Diamondbacks lease continues until 2028.